1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for rotating at least one rotatable element, particularly at least one of a rotatable element belonging to a jack, of a screw, of a bolt and of a nut, comprising an elongated handle, a pivot and a coupling member, the pivot penetrating the coupling member and connecting the latter pivotably to said handle and the coupling member having an end portion which is configured for detachably engaging with the rotatable element.
The device or assembly can particularly be utilized as a crank for manually rotating a rotatable element of a jack, such as the spindle of a scissors jack. The device and the jack can be carried together in a vehicle, e.g. a private motor car, and serve to raise and/or lower the vehicle. The device may in addition or instead be utilized as a wrench for rotating at least one rotatable element consisting of a screw, bolt and/or nut or the like, e.g. the screws or bolts or nuts serving for fastening the wheels of the vehicle. The handle of the device may further have an end portion configured for removing a hub cap of a wheel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices known in practice for driving a spindle of a jack comprise three separate pieces, viz. an elongated handle being generally hollow and polygonal in cross-section, a socket being in cross-section hexagonal along its entire length and a pivot which penetrates transverse holes of the handle as well as of the socket and is riveted to a handle end portion. This handle end portion is broader than the main portion of the handle and open on one side so that the socket can be turned into the interior of said handle end portion.
These known devices have the drawbacks that it needs a lot of time and entails considerable costs to shape the handle, to provide the handle with a bore, to assemble the handle, socket and pivot and to rivet the latter to the handle. Moreover, the socket is cut off of a relatively expensive hexagonal pipe.
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,542,336 discloses among other a wrench having a socket and a fork-shaped handle. The handle is formed of a pair of flat bars which are united at a portion and spread part at an end to form fork prongs. The socket is rotatably mounted in the fork by means of a pin which penetrates the socket and bores of the two bars. This wrench has the drawbacks that the two bars must be provided with bores and that the pin must then be assembled and connected with the two bars. The socket has moreover a complicated shape. Thus, the manufacturing and assembling of this wrench entails considerable costs, too. This wrench is moreover not intended to be utilized as crank for rotating an element of a jack.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,160 discloses a wrench having a socket and a generally U-shaped handle. The handle has two arms provided with inwardly extending, aligned end portions which penetrate bores of the socket and serve as pivots. The two arms are spaced from one another over the entire lengths thereof and the two end portions or pivots are also spaced from one another so that the two end portions may easily slide out of the bores and the handle is not suitable for transmitting large torques.